October 11, 1677. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



293 



ing water, they should be well coated with coal tar, having 

 its acid destroyed with fresh quicklime. The tar should be 

 thoroughly boiled to evaporate all watery matter, and applied 

 boiling hot. A large tank holding the posts set on end, and 

 filled with the scalding tar from a boiler, answers the purpose 

 very well. Of course the upper half of the posts can be painted 

 when placed in situ. I am fully convinced coal tar, properly 

 applied to thoroughly seasoned timber, is far more effectual in 

 preserving posts than oreosoting, poisoning, kyanising, or all 

 the paraphernalia of iron prongs, sheet-iron wrappers, &a. 

 One great recommendation in favour of the above process is 

 that it requires no skilled labour, and the cost is a mere trifle. 

 — (D. Sym Scott in The Journal of Forestry.) 



The American shipments of Apples to Great Britain 



last year were upwards of 385,000 barrels, besides consider- 

 able quantities sent to France, Germany, and even RuBsia. A 

 transatlantic contemporary observes that the opening of these 

 markets to American fruit is an event of great importance, 

 and establishes the business of Apple-growing on as sure a 

 basis as that of the Wheat, Corn , or Cotton planter. It will be 

 fortunate if the Apple crop in America is this year a full one, 

 for it is rarely that such a scarcity of this useful fruit has been 

 seen in British orchards. 



NOTES on VILLA and SUBURBAN GARDENING. 



Floweb gaedens are now beginning to look somewhat deso- 

 late, trees are shedding their summer clothing, and frosts have 

 rendered Dahlias, Heliotropes, and other tender bedding plants 

 useless ; while in the kitchen garden department supplies of 

 both Dwarf Kidney and Scarlet Runner Beans, also Vegetable 

 MarrowB, have been suddenly stopped. We have bad frosts 

 unusually early this autumn, and accompanied in the neighbour- 

 hood of London with dense fogs but no rain. Letters which 

 have reached us from distant parts of the country tell us that 

 •frosty nights have been general, while the days have been 

 bright and sunny, and thereby very suitable for ripening the 

 wood of fruit trees, so necessary to withstand the severity of a 

 sharp winter, and bo conducive to the prospects of next year's 

 fruitfalness. 



The great business of propagating bedding plants for next 

 season's summer's supply should by this time be nearly com- 

 pleted. Calceolaria cuttings should be inserted now in prepared 

 cold frames. Ordinary Cucumber frames will do admirably, in- 

 corporating with the soil some Bharp sand, and making all tole- 

 rably firm. Take-off small healthy young shoots either with or 

 without a heel of the old wood, and insert firmly from 2 to 

 3 inches apart, and give them a good watering. Keep them 

 close for a time, and as the cuttings show signs of becoming 

 rooted air Bhould be given on all favourable occasions, even to 

 removing the lights entirely during warm days. In these un- 

 heated structures Calceolarias can be Bafely wintered if the pro- 

 tection of mats or other coverings are provided in Bevere weather. 

 P«ntstemons can be struck exactly in the same manner. These 

 are beautiful border flowers. They produced a pleasing effect 

 this year in Battersea Park, associated as they were with the 

 free-flowering and attractive Anemone japoniea alba (Honorine 

 Jobert), dwarf Dahlias, &c. 



Bulbs. — Hyacinths first claim our attention. No flowering 

 plants are more deservedly popular for room decoration, and 

 none are more easy of culture. Hyacinths are said not to be so 

 large as usual this year owing to unfavourable weather having 

 prevailed in Holland during the growing period; but be this as 

 it may, we desire the best possible results from those sent over, 

 and whether grown in pots for the decoration of the con- 

 servatory, for the exhibition table, in glasses for decoration of 

 rooms, or in beds and borders for the embellishment of the 

 spring garden they must now receive immediate attention, and 

 orders must be sent without delay to the respective dealers in 

 bulbs for the supplies required. The subjoined list contains 

 the best varieties that can be purchased, and includes cheap 

 reliable older varieties which are still to be found in the 

 winning collections at our metropolitan exhibitions. 



Single Beds of all shades. — Duchess of Richmond, Emmeline, 

 Gigantea, Madame Hodgson, Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Ornement 

 de la Nature, Queen of Hyacinths, and Solfaterre. Single White 

 or Blush. — Alba Maxima, Alba Superbissima, Baroness Van 

 Tuyll, Grandeur a Merveille, Madame Van der Hoop, Miran- 

 dolina, Mont Blanc, and Queen of the Netherlands. Single 

 Blue. — Argus, Baron Van Tuyll, Charles Dickens, Couronne de 

 Celle, Grand Lilas, Leonidas, Marie, and Mimosa. The follow- 

 ing are thirty exhibition varieties which have been separated 

 from the above list on account of their high prices, and in some 

 few cases the names in the foregoing list are repeated, thus 

 showing that though cheap they cannot be dispensed with. 

 Single Beds of all shades. — Cavaignac, *Fabiola, *Gigantea, 

 Garibaldi, *Macaulay, Prince Albert Victor, Princess Clothilde, 

 *Von Schiller, *Vuurbaak, and the indispensable semi-double red 



*Koh-i-Noor. Single Whites.— *Alba Maxima, *Grandeur aMer- 

 veille, *La Grandeur, L'Innocence, Mirandolina, Miss Nightin- 

 gale, *Mont Blanc, and Snowball. Single Blues.— Baron Van 

 Tuyll, *Blondin, 'General Havelock, 'Grand Lilas, "King of the 

 Blues, Lord Derby, Marie, Princess Mary of Cambridge, *Czar 

 Peter, and *De Candolle. Single Yelloivs. — *Ida and *Bird of 

 Paradise. The very best eighteen varieties for superior colour 

 and massive spikes are those to which an asterisk is prefixed. 

 The single varieties are mostly to be depended on for their easy 

 culture and fine flower trusses, but if a few doubles are desired, 

 Blocksberg, Laurens Koster, and Van Speyk are among the best 

 of the blues; La Tour d'Auvergne, Prince of Waterloo, and 

 AnnaMaviaof the whites ; and Koh-i-Noorand Lord Wellington 

 of the reds. 



Cultivation in Pots. — Rich light soil is of the first importance. 

 We prefer that which has had a large quantity of dried cow 

 manure and coarse gritty sand mixed with it sometime previous 

 to being used. For exhibition purposes we pot the bulbs singly 

 in 32's or 6-inch pots, but for home decoration 48's are often 

 used. Some cultivators place three bulbs in a pot, but we 

 prefer one. If the pots are new well soak them, for the white 

 fleshy roots of the Hyacinth have a great dislike to new pottery. 

 Fill the pot with the soil, make a hole with the forefingers, lay 

 on a little silver sand, and place the top of the bulb on a level 

 with the top of the soil ; a rap on the potting bench will settle 

 all firmly around the bulb. When potted they should be placed 

 ou a bed of coal ashes and be covered over to the depth of 5 or 

 inches with cocoa-nut fibre refuBe ; here they must remain 

 until well rooted, which is generally from Bix to eight weeks 

 from the time of potting. 



Hyacinths in Water. — The single varieties are to be preferred 

 for this purpose. Fill an ordinary Hyacinth glass with rain 

 water, placing the bulbs on the top made for the purpose, almost 

 but not quite in contact with the water; place them in a dark 

 room for a few weeks until the roots have grown down the sideB 

 of the glasses, when they may be removed to the light ; a win- 

 dow is a very good place, as the close contact with the light and 

 air prevents them from becoming drawn. DuriDg severe froBty 

 nights they should be removed a distance from the glaBB. 



Early single Tulips are very showy and bear forcing well, and 

 precisely the same sort of compost and the same size of pots and 

 the same treatment recommended for Hyacinths will suit Tulips, 

 only instead of one bulb, as in the case of Hyacinths, placing 

 three around the sides of the pots. The following are among 

 the best varieties :— Bride of Haarlem, Chrysolora, Couleur de 

 Cardinal, Keizer's Kroon, White Pottebakker, Proserpine, Van 

 der Neer, and Vermilion Brilliant. — J. W. Moobman. 



DOINGS OP THE LAST AND WORK FOR 

 THE PRESENT WEEK. 



KITCHEN GABDEN. 



We have done but little work this last week in this depart- 

 ment, but surely never has the weather been better for pushing 

 forward out-of-doors operations. No rain to speak of has fallen 

 for more than a month, and the ground is perfectly dry. Our 

 northern friends will be surprised to hear that in this season of 

 floods we have a border of Coleworts with the leaves flagging 

 very much and of the usual bluish tinge that they take on in 

 seasons of drought. We hope they will soon have a soaking of 

 rain, as it is rather too much to expect us to water Cabbages in 

 October. 



No time should be lost in having all spare ground dug or 

 trenched. It is sometimes better to trench it, especially if the 

 soil is very poor, as the trenching affords an opportunity for 

 working-in a good proportion of manure. Some persons fancy 

 that it is waste to place manure deeply in the ground; if we had 

 only a small quantity we would not care to bury it a foot below 

 the sarface, as this would not be using it to the best advantage. 

 It would be much better that it was buried about 5 or 6 inches ; 

 but in trenchiDg we have a layer at the bottom of the trench, 

 then a spit of earth with the shovellings, and over this another 

 layer of manure. We obtain excellent crops from our light soil 

 by treating the ground in this way, the crops are more inde- 

 pendent of the weather, and will pass through a season of 

 drought that would seriously injure the crops if the ground had 

 only been dug up. We have done much hoeing. In this dis- 

 trict there ought not to be any excuse for the ground being over- 

 run with weeds during the winter months. Should slugs attack 

 the leaves of the young plants of Lettuce, Cauliflower, Cabbage, 

 &c, the best way to destroy them is by dusting the leaves at 

 night with dry lime. This was noticed last week, but the re- 

 medy is a very simple one, and if it is attended to in time the 

 plants will not suffer. If the principal leaves become riddled 

 with holes the plants receive much injury. 



VINEEIES. 



Those who intend to start their Vines early, say in November 

 or early in December, ought to lose no time in getting them 

 prepared. Ours have been pruned some time ago, the wood 



